Proceedings of the 2009 northeastern recreation research symposium

Table 1.—Means, standard deviation, and reliabilities of manifest variables
Items α M SD
Experience Use History
.415
In what year did you make your fi rst visit?
How many visits to Santee Cooper Country have you made since your fi rst visit?
Place Attachment
1991.85
11.40
11.99
8.83
Place Identity (eight items) .90 3.29 .68
Place Dependence (four items) .83 3.24 .85
Affective Attitude (three items) .82 3.44 .85
Social Bonding (fi ve items)
Satisfaction
.79 3.63 .74
How satisfi ed are you with the fi shing at the lake you fi sh most often in SCC?
Intention to Return
3.69 .93
How likely is it that you will visit SCC within the next 12 months?
Place Familiarity
3.94 .81
Please indicate how familiar you are with SCC.
Angling skill
4.93 1.52
Please rate your level of fi shing experience. 3.44 .82
3.0 METHODS
3.1 Sample and Study Context
Our data were collected from consumers inquiring about
angling opportunities in SCC, South Carolina. Names
and addresses were drawn from a database maintained by
the Santee Cooper Counties Promotion Commission, a
not-for-profi t organization acting on behalf of a fi vecounty
region in South Carolina. Th ese counties lie
around the perimeter of Lakes Marion and Moultrie,
popular fi shing destinations that attract visitors from
across the United States. Combined, the two lakes and
diversion canal connecting them cover approximately
156,000 acres and provide 450 miles of shoreline. A
survey instrument was sent to 2,750 randomly selected
people from the database using a modifi ed Dillman
(2000) procedure. Th e sample contained 581 addresses
that were no longer valid. Th e procedure yielded 430
completed surveys for a response rate of 20.0 percent. For
this analysis, we selected only past visitors (n = 248) to
determine their attachment to the place.
3.2 Measures
Experience use history was measured using two items:
respondents’ year of fi rst visit and the number of visits
since (see Table 1). While the reliability of these two
items was shown to be mediocre (� = .415), some
authors have suggested that these items do not lend
themselves to tests of internal consistency (Kyle et
al. 2004). Consequently, we retained these items for
further analyses. Place satisfaction was measured using
a single indicator. Respondents were asked to indicate
how satisfi ed they were with their experience at SCC.
Response categories ranged from 1 = poor through 6 =
perfect. Place attachment was measured using 20 items
drawn from Kyle et al. (2004). Respondents were asked
to indicate their level of agreement with a series of
statements relating to SCC. Response categories were 1
= strongly disagree through 5 = strongly agree. As noted,
these items measured four dimensions of attachment:
place identity, place dependence, aff ective attachment,
and social bonding. All dimensions displayed good
internal consistency (i.e., all � >.75). Items loading
onto each dimension were parceled to create a single
indicator for further analyses (Williams and O’Boyle
2008). Intention to return was also measured using a
single indicator. Respondents were asked to indicate
the likelihood of their return on a 5-point scale ranging
from 1 = very likely through 5 = no chance. Last, our
two moderating variables were also measured using single
indicators. For place familiarity, respondents were asked
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